Weeksville

February 18th, 2016

why was it historic?

> Founded in 1838 by a Free Black man by the name of James Weeks. Weeksville, was a thriving Free Black settlement originally owned by another Free Black man by the name of Henry C. Thompson. After James Weeks purchased the land he began to sell plots of land to other Free Blacks. Weeksville was centrally located in Brooklyn, NY. It became a safe haven for runaway slaves fleeing Slavery in the south, as of 1827 the State of New YorkAbolished Slavery. Therefor making it to Weeksville meant your were pretty safe. By 1850 Weeksville was the 2nd largest Free Black community in the U.S.

> Weeksville was indeed a thriving community of Black Doctors, Lawyers & Entrepreneurs of all sorts. Weeksville was a full service community, it had Black owned Churches, Schools, Stores and even it’s own Newspaper, the Freedman’s Torchlight. The school was the 1st school in the U.S to integrate the students and staff. Weeksville remained largely intact until about 1930 when the Borough of Brooklyn’s population spillled over and into Weeksville section blurring the lines of a pure Historical past. Today there still remnants of Weeksville past some of Hunterfly Road Row Houses were preserved and it lead to the formation of the Weeksville Society (Weeksville Heritage Center) who saved the Road Houses from demolition. In 1971 the Hunterfly Road Houses achieved Landmark Status, they were fully restored and are open for the public to view.

Location: Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY

Then photo:

Hunterfly Road Row Houses, Restored to Circa. mid o late 1800’s.

Now Photo:

Section of Weeksville Community.Present Day.

Commentary:

Living in a City likeNew York you’re constantly surrounded by historical landmarks, you can journey to the past with it’s many Museums, Libraries and Institutes. Weeksville has a special place in the grand scheme of things because it was an ode back into time when Blacks were at their societal worst (but not in Weeksville). We were classified not by our names or professions but by whether we were Free or Enslaved Black men & Women. But this piece of land was exclusively ours and they treated it as such. Shoutout to James Weeks for his vision of a successful less stressful thriving Free Black Community called Weeksville, Brooklyn! #Thankyou